Getting a residency spot in the US, UK or anywhere else is not an easy task. Passing board exams is not a guarantee either. Imagine if Ghanaians, Camerounians & other West Africans were flocking here to compete for our own residency spaces. The competition will be tough, there will be preference for Nigerian citizens, those who deserve it based on merit & so many other factors for consideration.

Everyone is not lucky during NYSC & dont get posted to the governor's mother's village. In camp, there will be at least 40 doctors on the average. Some will get posted to the State House while others will get posted to the hinterland.

Money is not everything BUT it does count for some things & is a necessary tool in motivating the work force. I believe that experience gained on the job in line with your career goals is far more important. If for instance I want to be a surgeon, I would prefer to go to a village where I can practise & hone my skills earning 18K rather than stay in the city, do nothing and earn say 70K. I know a doctor who has been in a shitty place earning maybe 60/70K per month but he developed himself, went for trainings & seminars & became the pointsman for HIV/AIDS in that hospital & now has a job with Family Health International (FHI). Its a far bigger paying job with immense benefits!



@maddock, saying that no doctor earns 18K shows ignorance. Nigeria is that bad. . . Those doctors who you say were buying cars back then were probably using their house job money! (which was probably about 50K den)

i find it appalling that everybody is talking about Doctors pay alone. The quality of care in the healthcare sector actually depend on other professionals whose contribution actually outweigh the doctor's. these other sets of dedicated professionals are actually underpaid and do not have the opportunity of cutting other jobs like the doctors do. So let's remember these other guys. Did anyone notice how the legislative arm kicked about a wellmeaning bill that instead of wasting the taxpayers money on abroad medical checkups and treatment by politicians, these funds should be directed at improving our health care systems.

the payment of Doctors is based on
where they are located!!!!

I know one that got 120k monthly!!!

na only 4 naija wey dey no dey pay doctors, for yankee doctors get money.

Doctors pay is actually nothing to write home about, I was oportune to see my director's (private clinic) pay slip some time ago, i was astonished. 120,000 thousand naira for a consultant, (orthopaedics surgeon). GOD forbit. I just graduated 4rm nursing school with the intention of doing degree nursing, but i ve since change my mind. i ve already applied for admission in what is simple but can give me a job in de bank or telecommunication sector, or beter still be an entrepreneur WHO NO LIKE BETER THING?. The doctor once confided on me that if not for private practice he would not ve even bougth a car. I think the best courses for one to study now is social sciences b/c that is where nigerian economy is drivin at. As for the pay the general practitionars (G.P) that are working here with us go home with 60 to 70k montly, although they all work in 2 places, now dont tell me we are not living in a major city b/c i am posting from PH. and u know our living standard here. I hope we shall one day talk about nurses pay here and non of u will ever advice their relative to study nursing and live in nigeria.

@kunle2box

Doctors are the leaders of the health care team and by the time you take care of their salary/wage structure, that of the others shoould fall into place too.(but this is in an ideal situation & not in Naija where every body has to fight for their rights)

I want to disagree with you on your statement about them not having opportunities to cut other jobs. . . in fact they have more opportunities to do so because they mostly run shifts (morning, afternoon or nights) while the doctors are at work from 8-5, mon - fri, some weekends including calls! Thus they have more time to run businesses and as a matter of fact most, if not all of them do!

thanks jare aiyetunje for educating some people about the health sector.

No one goes to a hospital to look for the orderly, when you walk into one you want to see the DOCTOR and he/she them employs the help of other health workers to your benefit. Thats why you see other health workers always trying to be 'docs' in nija societies,
Anyways, the whole sector really does need help and funding,its comatose GCS -1!

when all is said and done,its doctors that will help the sector,let us all make the money wherever and go back home to make things work with that money.
Partnerships will help.theres hope for nigeria if we believe.

come to think of it, i look forward to a time people worldover wil be scrambling for MDCN registeration.

hope dey!

@ reindeer

Sorry, i didn't know you meant youth service when you said your friend was earning 18,000.

However, i was a living witness to the case of the doc that was earning 120,000. He actually negotiated the pay cos he was so good that his name was ringing bell all over the village. He floored all the other doctors in the village and the council chairman was impressed with him.

But to be frank with you, i don't know what the LGC was paying him as a corper cos the negotiation happened when he completed service and was about leaving for his place. The chairman virtually beg him to stay back.

He eventually left after a couple of months cos he said his people needed him.

I really envied him then.  

i m a doc doin nysc in nasarawa st. get paid 33k by d state,then 9,5k by fg. i make side money every now and then. d m.o's here make 70k. cant live on that! there is no good p.p. some1 mentiond we shld all move 2 big towns then all ur grandma in d village shld die. i'm 1 step out of this country but i ll be back.

My first job post internship/ post nysc was for 30k a month about 1 yr ago. I was doing the night shift. 8pm to 8am weekdays and 48 hr every other weekend. So i get 2 work free weekends per month. Thats about 84hrs per week. I initially thought i would be able to combine the job with another one during the day for more pay, but after many busy, sleepless nights, I knew it wasn't possible. Of course, i negotiated for an increase in pay and i eventually got 35k/month.

I worked in other hospitals too and i was getting 50k/month for similar working hours. Very few people get into Government hospitals where you can get around 80-100k/month.

The problem is with the whole health sector. Nigeria needs more well equipped hospitals, better patient care etc. And until all that is taken care of nothing will improve.

Even if doctors are paid better, it will only be the few of them working in FEDERAL Government hospitals.

it depends on d country where d person is working

a country like Australia pays doctors so damn much,that everybody wants to study medicine at all cost

haba! why all this lies? even coper(doctor)s are paid more than that. make those liers go shut up.

As a doctor, i know that our problem is from no where else but from doctors. Yes there are doctors who earn as much as N200,000 but that is like saying you know of a banker who earns N500,000 without actually attempting to know his position and how many years he's been in the practice.

This is the reality. We doctors all know that those of us in Nigeria are the worst paid in the world and whether anyone likes it or not, it is going to remain like that for decades to come because Nigerians are too ignorant to understand the importance of their own health. And i believe doctors have resolved to take whatever shit comes their way as long as they remain in this country.

I graduated in 2006 and during my housemanship, i was earning well above N110,000 at atime.
Then suddenly i am now doing my youth service and i am suddenly being paid Less than N20,000. I am not complaining because prior to my deployment, i knew this was national service.

But the truth is that my classmate who has finished NYSC is having the most dificult time on earth. It the society wasn't being deceived to believe doctors are earning millions his life could have been a lot easier but,  He is now the one everyone in the fanily runs to for all sorts of financial assistance. Afterall is he not a doctor?

My friend now earns N40,000 and he has to keep two jobs with the second job paying N30,000 and he works total 13 hrs everyday in private clinics. For me i don't think this is why i spent 7 years plus strike, 1 year housemanship and 1 year NYSC. To be sincere even if i were the pope, i think i have a right to complain. Our educational system is where it is today because some people think Teachers should work for free and go to heaven for their reward after death.
So doctors are on service for humanity, but should they starve?

The only reason why i have decided to remain in Nigeria is simple. I don't currently and don't plan to depend on medical practice for my survival. God has helped me and while I was still a student a acquired this web developemnt skill. Only one job got me well over N500,000. This is a pay none of my colleges have ever earned. They will only be in the range of earning N300,000 salary in about 7 years from now when and if they become consultants. I even hear govt at a time was planning to make resident doctors pay for their training than be paid by govt as there were still under training. Very wise!

Unfortunately the teaching hospitals and general hospitals do not have space for all of us. So some doctors have to work in private hospitals and more unfortunately this is a sector of our economy where govt pays higher than the private sector.


it is becoming shameful to tell someone you are a doctor. This to me is bad because, i know many of my classmates who have vowed never to allow their children study medicine. Soon this country will be left bare without doctors. It still wouldn't be a problem to the govt because, they can always fly abroad. So those who can not will be the endangered species. That is how responsible the Nigerian govt is.

Doctors are poorly paid in Nigeria because the government does not want to spend more money on healthcare. If more funds were spent on good hospitals and training then inevitably the pay of staff would increase. Oil and Gas workers are well paid because there is money being generated and spent in that sector by Shell, NNPC and the likes.
--
The average life expectancy in Nigeria is 46yrs but Nigerian Government isn't too concerned about it. A real shame. --

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/nigeria_statistics.html

In the UK the British Government declared free health care NHS at a time when the governement was still recovering from the effects of the Second World War. I do not see why Nigeria could not try and introduce something slightly similar that would at least provide subsidised good quality healthcare.

http://www.nhs.uk/aboutnhs/pages/about.aspx

As for the case of doctors serving their community and being happy with the job satisfaction even though pay is poor that is utter crap. I know many doctors who worked in Government Hospitals during the 1980's. Most retired as paupers with no pension and some ended up dying with nothing to show for their service.
ax
In the UK the average salary for qualified GP is £110,000 (N24million) per annum. House officers start on about £20,000 per annum. Tax is high but thats what pays for the NHS and other services. I do not blame any doctor who decides to leave Nigeria for greener pastures.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567887/Average-salary-for-a-GP-leaps-to-andpound110,000.html

I have to rethink this returning to naija thing, dang!

Utterly depressing and shameful

you guys thank so much for educating nigerians about the welfare(or lack of it) of doctors,
if care isnt taken very soon we'll sart importing substandard docs to work in nija hospitals to work when all our own have fled from the harsh treatment.

I think theres hope if we try,lets plan for the future.

reindeer:

you guys thank so much for educating nigerians about the welfare(or lack of it) of doctors,
if care isnt taken very soon we'll sart importing substandard docs to work in nija hospitals to work when all our own have fled from the harsh treatment.

I think theres hope if we try,lets plan for the future.

What makes other doctors substandard? Cuban doctors are very well trained, as are many others. Indian and Chinese doctors are also very good. They also make up an extremely high percentage of the medical practitioners abroad. Especially Indians.

So far people have voiced their various opinions on doctors' welfare. And as with most other sectors in Nigeria, the doctors go on strike every so often, for salary increases. After their own, nurses will also agitate and go on strike for better pay. The only people in that group who don't seem to down tools so often, are the pharmacists.

However, doctors abroad who work long hours for minimal wages, arent allowed to go on strike. Its one of the first differences I noticed between employment at home and employment abroad. Overseas, if your paycheck doesnt cover your bills, you either get another job or cut down your expenses as much as possible.

BEING A DOCTOR COULD BE PROFITABLE IN NIGERIA,IF ONLY YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.MY UNCLE GRADUATED FOM OAU SOME YEARS BACK AND HE PROCEEDED TO ONE OF THE STATES IN THE NORTH.TODAY,HE EARNS ABOUT 200 000 GRAND FROM THE STATE GOVT AND HE EARNS DOUBLE OF THAT AMOUNT FROM HIS PRIVATE CLINIC(WHICH IS PROBABLY THE BEST PRIVATE CLINIC IN THE STATE).APART FROM THE STRESS INVOLVED,THE GUY IS FINANCIALLY BUOYANT AND DOING GREAT.ITS HARD TO BELIEVE THAT THE GUY FINISHED SOME YEARS BACK.
I L LIKE TO ADVISE UPCOMING DOCTORS TO TRY THEIR LUCK IN THE NORTH,THEY VE GOT A LARGE AND UNTAPPED MARKET FOR DOCTORS.

If we talk about Doctors' pay being so unbearable what of Soldiers that die and live with disabilities for ridiculous pay . The whole system is just topsy-turvy

@Artic,word! Zamfara state has already imported 27 Drs from Egypt.See how silly that sounds when there are over 47,000 Drs trained in Nigeria currently at home.Why not employ and develop them further.The salaries of legislators has just been increased over 100% siting inflation.Are Drs running a different economy?

Hi guys!

Interestin topic!

@Reindeer and Aiyetunje, you both seem to know what is really going on.

Well, I dont think doctors get the half of what they deserve in our society.

Anyone heard of 'Occupational Hazards'' before? I know every job has one but even the risks of being a medical student alone is bad enough!

I had classmates in med school who came down with a number of nosocromials and some who directly got infected from contacts with the patients they're trying to help!

I'm sure that many doctors would remember thier first few needle pricks during thier training. Some of us were lucky enough but I have friends who went on antiretrovirals because of some mistake with a needle or some blood splatter during a surgery!

You go to the wards, where many are running out from, because you need to examine this really sick patient with Hep B, whose sweat you must not come in contact with. (trust me, the fact that you're vaccinated doesnt give you absolute immunity). At the end of the month, they pay you less than a bankers monthly bonus for Hazard and you're expected to go home to your family happy!

When I was to do my Internship, I wanted to work at a Teaching Hopital because I wanted to be in the academic environment so I can practice and learn more. there were very few slots at the teaching hospitals. I waited almost a year before giving in to the volunteer job they call 'supernumerary' at a Teaching hospital because I could not bear the thot of not doing the Internship within the 2 year limit. Supernumerary simply means you dont get paid but dont get treated differently from someone who gets paid. That is how I completed my internship. I only supported myself with private practice that I did when i was not on call and some family support that I had to solicit for.

Did my Youth service with a net pay of about 50k monthly inclusive of my NYSC allowance.( that was the highest I earned from a single job!).

Today, I'm totally out of the clinics cos I see nothing but pain working there as anything other than a consultant because its really depressing.

I think I deserve more if i'm to work in the clinics. Jus because I want to save lives doesnt mean that I have to go through hardship doing it.

Someone tell me how wrong I am for feeling this way.

phenomenon:

Hi guys!
When I was to do my Internship, I wanted to work at a Teaching Hopital because I wanted to be in the academic environment so I can practice and learn more. there were very few slots at the teaching hospitals. I waited almost a year before giving in to the volunteer job they call 'supernumerary' at a Teaching hospital because I could not bear the thot of not doing the Internship within the 2 year limit. Supernumerary simply means you don't get paid but don't get treated differently from someone who gets paid. That is how I completed my internship. I only supported myself with private practice that I did when i was not on call and some family support that I had to solicit for.

Its so painfully sad things have degenerated to this level. "Supernumerary internship"!! This is a blackmail and a fraud against young doctors at a time legislators are placing themselves on (usually) obscene stipends and pensions for doing part time jobs in legislative houses.

For some who left med school a little while back, it is a ridiculously absurd concept if not a criminal abdication of payment for work done in a country where medical interns are paid entitlements.

phenomenon:

Hi guys!

Interestin topic!


When I was to do my Internship, I wanted to work at a Teaching Hopital because I wanted to be in the academic environment so I can practice and learn more. there were very few slots at the teaching hospitals. I waited almost a year before giving in to the volunteer job they call 'supernumerary' at a Teaching hospital because I could not bear the thot of not doing the Internship within the 2 year limit. Supernumerary simply means you don't get paid but don't get treated differently from someone who gets paid. That is how I completed my internship. I only supported myself with private practice that I did when i was not on call and some family support that I had to solicit for.


Someone tell me how wrong I am for feeling this way.

You're very right for feeling this way, just as my friend overseas who did his own supernumerary without pay for a year, in order to get into a residency program, was also right to feel bitter some of the time. He supported himself meanwhile by doing various odd jobs including security and burger flipping. Many Indian doctors also do the same (ie work without pay in order to get their foot in the door)

Its a question of location. Which location is better to do it in.

hmmm,

many of them need to be tripple paid and rewarded too. Teachers, doctors, nurses and police

Topics like this annoy me. How can people be arguing that doctors are badly paid, WHEN ALMOST EVERY EMPLOYEE IN NIGERIA IS PAID BADLY? Is it because doctors go to school for 6 years and do a one year internship that they should be paid more? What of the lecturers in schools who after their BSc or BA degree's go on to Masters and PhD level. Have they not dedicated their lives to 'book' too?

Apart from that, you cant single out doctors in the health sector and say that they should be paid more. What about the Nurses, technicians, physiotherapists, pharmacists, physiologists etc, who are not doctors but contribute immensely to the success of doctors?
The same thing happens in Universities. Today, ASUU (academic staff union) will go on strike because they want more money. Tomorrow, NASU (non academic staff union) will go on strike too because the academic staff have not fought for them, but for themselves.

LOOK PEOPLE, the whole country is in shambles so let us not single out doctors and say they are badly paid. What of the people who teach the doctors to be doctors, who are not doctors themselves? Dont they deserve some 'good pay' for training these doctors?

Epiphany:

Topics like this annoy me. How can people be arguing that doctors are badly paid, WHEN ALMOST EVERY EMPLOYEE IN NIGERIA IS PAID BADLY? Is it because doctors go to school for 6 years and do a one year internship that they should be paid more? What of the lecturers in schools who after their BSc or BA degree's go on to Masters and PhD level. Have they not dedicated their lives to 'book' too?
Apart from that, you can't single out doctors in the health sector and say that they should be paid more. What about the Nurses, technicians, physiotherapists, pharmacists, physiologists etc, who are not doctors but contribute immensely to the success of doctors?
The same thing happens in Universities. Today, ASUU (academic staff union) will go on strike because they want more money. Tomorrow, NASU (non academic staff union) will go on strike too because the academic staff have not fought for them, but for themselves.

LOOK PEOPLE, the whole country is in shambles so let us not single out doctors and say they are badly paid. What of the people who teach the doctors to be doctors, who are not doctors themselves? Dont they deserve some 'good pay' for training these doctors?

Iwe ji gi di anyi chei! . Na real vex
When i saw this post the first time, I just thought of the bolded portion. Well they are what the society made them even those who are will manage to come out of medical school through whatever means and get a licence to fast-forward the grave bound journey of some unfortunate patients. They are those who make the most noise. Apart from those in oil and gas, IT, telecoms, I guess are the best paid.
In civil service, who earns more than they do in Nigeria. There work should be appreciated but they should not compare themselves to those who work there ass out over here with mirad of bills and tax to pay that end up decimating the whole pay packet

Can I use a real life example?
I graduated from med school in 2001.
As an HO, I earned 50k monthly after tax.
I went to serve in the north and was paid 28k a month.
The highest paid doctor in my state earned 33k and the lowest we knew about was 11k.
It is common knowledge that doctors take a pay cut during NYSC.
You can indeed earn 200k if you are willing to be unethical but a lot of us swore an oath and this oath is sacrosanct
NYSC doctors today still earn 15k or 18k a month, I kid you not!
Post NYSC doctors take home less than 40k in many private hospitals in Lagos, Kano, Umuahia, Kontagora, Ilorin and especially Abuja!
You may say what gives doctors the right to earn much more than that?
Like it or not, doctors are supposed to be the creme de la creme of our brains and should be rewarded as such.
Remove all prejudices and try to recall the dullest 40% of your classmates in primary or secondary school,
Now picture any of them as the doctor looking after your 3 day old son,
Medicine is a humanitarian field, I hear some dreamers state on this forum,
I have not heard a more dangerous statement!
It is a field for the most professional of professionals who has the highest level of dedication to his duty.
It is not a voluntary service!
We should recompense them as adequaely as possible or the best of the best of the nations intellects will leave for where they will get a salary commisurate with their qualifications.
I recall that on the day I graduated from medical school, there was a merit list of 26. Of the 26, only 1 is left in 9ja!
This is a statistic that should fill our leaders with dread but they feel the same as many on this forum.

Pray that you don't fall ill o! It's a lottery whether you survive it as it is. Soon, nobody will read medicine in Naija.
As a medical doctor myself, I will not advice my kids to study medicine with the aim of practicing in Naija unless they understand the implications:
a life just above the poverty line with no appreciation of the sacrifices you made to get there!

@Epiphany, my most sincere hope is that someone like you never gets into a position of authority or influence. Your myopic views are quite frankly a disgrace and I dont usually respond to such tunnel views but for you Sir, I will make an exception.
Naija o ni baje

I see medicine more as a humanitarian service. You must love the job, and love the patients u treat. Come to think of it, the most hardworking or the most dedicated are not always the richest, Many CEOs do't do as much work as doctors, but their pay is astronomical. Nigerian factors also contribute to it.
If our doctors make more research in their field, they can stand out

vislabraye:

I see medicine more as a humanitarian service. You must love the job, and love the patients u treat. Come to think of it, the most hardworking or the most dedicated are not always the richest, Many CEOs do't do as much work as doctors, but their pay is astronomical. Nigerian factors also contribute to it. If our doctors make more research in their field, they can stand out

I keep seeing other parallels in what people are saying here.

CEOs in western countries also make staggering amounts of money. Its not a Nigerian only thing.

in as much as doctors are right to agitate for more pay,better welfare e.t.c i totally disagree with the school of thought that they are sort of the first priority because they are doctors, an ex girlfriend graduated from cuba last year and i can tell you some consultants in cuba earn less than£5000 a year,there are consultants who can only afford one car, unless you are now saying nigerian doctors are better than cuban doctors or consultants, before signing to become a medical doctor you know that it is purely your superior love for the humanitarian rather than the financial side that has made you go into it,cuba consultants,doctors could cross over to the united states and be plastic surgeons earning hundreds of thousands but they have the love of their country at heart irrespective of the conditions,

nigerian policemen die in droves,being killed by armed robbers,the rank and file who are most likely to die dont have an opportunity to collect tens of thousands,some policement are posted to a state where there is no accomodation and they have to sleep in the cells and bath in the policeyard very early in the morning,some sleep in uncompleted buildings e.t.c the nigerian army as well,even the ones that died a couple of months ago the last i heard is that their families have not being paid entitlements,the veterans are under the bridge waiting for their pensions,like someone said what about the old professors who taught you doctors, remember that old man who came back to nigeria from abroad rejecting the highly paid job??the man who s suit is so old and wretched with a barely manageable tokunbo car??he might lament,but you dont see him complaining or leaving nigeria
the fault is with the country and everybody is suffering,like epiphany said dont single yourselves out for special treatment

judging by some answers here

Nigeria obviously isnt ready for quality health care. Its only when it comes to the health sector people cry wolf about doctors, i rarely see where court bailiffs and registrars agitate for equal pay with lawyers and judges,shame!
we all know the prob with doctors is a microcosm of the larger society, the point being made is that docs deserve more,nobody ever siad that soldiers,policemen,etc dont deserve any better either but lets get one thing straight, docs should be in their rightful place.
I pray for people like epiphany that next time they fall ill,they'll get to meet a frustrated doctor and then, only then will they understand the gravity of the situation

when all is siad and done,if the sector is made more robust with equipment and motivated personel all nigerians will be better of for it.

I know politicians can afford to go to germany to treat flu, i just pity those like epiphany who hasnt realised the value of health.

I still maintain that we are the ones who can make the change,forget politicians.
so lets plan to do it from wherever we are on earth.